Jennifer Thym is a Hong Kong filmmaker with a genre-bending web series she defines as ‘magical realism’. Lumina features a female lead in a strangely sci-fi modern world where mirrors lead to romance and corporate greed, and a supernatural force called The Mirrorati that are to be feared.
Thym developed her web series with some immersive storylines, deep back stories, and a long-term plan that could include a feature film, graphic novelizations, and a MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role playing game.)
“In TV terms, I think it's closest to Lost,” says Thym about Lumina's genre, “a serial thriller interwoven with fantastical elements and real world conspiracies...”
Lumina as a series is unlike anything else out there right now on the web or on television, despite having similarities to Lost. And the name ‘Lumina’ for her lead character is unorthodox as well. Maybe that’s because it is something Thym heard in a dream.
“Simple but true. I find it ironic that it means ‘light’, which fits in well with both the original vampire story as well as the mirrorspy fable.”
Michael Chan as 'Ryder'
more Ryder
Vampire story? Yes, Lumina was originally a vampire story before Thym changed it thematically. She wanted to avoid being seen as part of the whole Vampire Diaries, Twilight, and True Blood bandwagon.
“The original script revolved around drug-dealing vampires and gang violence, but I decided that one, that was going to be too expensive to film convincingly with the resources I had, and two, there were too many vampire stories going around, and I didn't want to be doing exactly what everyone else was doing. So I rewrote the script based upon a strange scene I walked past in a shopping mall, and the entire story blossomed around that that image in my head. We tried to film it but it was too hard to recreate the memory, so in a way, the secret is still with me. “
Lumina features a lot of mirrors; Lumina herself speaks to a handsome man named Ryder in the mirror realm through any available mirror or reflection. Thym describes how mirrors function as fantasy constructs in our own mythology and in Lumina;
“Mirrors are strange things; without reflective surfaces we would have no idea how we appeared to everyone else. You're purer in a way, if you have never seen yourself. Once you start looking too closely at yourself in a mirror you start to find faults with your appearance or you get a weirdly inflated sense of ego or some alarming combination of both. I like the idea that mirrors are somehow related to the corruption of the soul. And I liked the idea that windows could be mirrors under the right conditions, and sometimes ... maybe the reverse could hold true as well. I also love the idea of dark mirrors or black mirrors.
Ryder again
Within Lumina, mirrors represent narcissism and illusions; how we are sometimes more in love with the idea of being in love than with the person we are fantasizing about. The relationship between Ryder and Lumina starts out more as bit of playful self-indulgence more than it is a relationship built out of honesty between equals. I think a lot of online relationships are like this, and it's always good to spend more time to get to know someone before committing to a dream that doesn't really exist.”
Jennifer Thym, as a self-professed online gamer, cast Hong Kong star JuJu Chan as the lead character.
“JuJu Chan is a real life friend of one of my Final Fantasy XI guild mates. Lumina is living proof that something good can come out of MMORPGing! And she was working a full time job when we were filming Lumina - I don't know when she slept! She really tried so hard and never complained, I really appreciated that."
Jacob Ziacan as 'Eben'
“Most of the other actors came through auditions or through friends of friends,” she adds. “Michael Chan (Ryder) has a great look and a wonderful onscreen presence - he looked like he walked off the pages of a manga. Jacob Ziacan (Eben) has a great look as well - whenever I see him now he's clean-shaven and looks so much younger than he did on Lumina. Emilie Guillot (Laetitia) has an incredible sense of power and poise about her, it's quite amazing to see her in person as well - she does a lot of theatre as well as film projects. And Simon Yin (Damien) stole scenes - I love him for trying out the role of the bad guy - he's such a sweetheart and he's known for being an upbeat emcee, host and comedian.”
Emilie Guillot as 'Laetitia'
Lumina make some interesting statements about corporate greed with the ultra-capitalist elite Mirrorati and their secret control of modern day Hong Kong. Thym isn’t trying to make a political series – but some very strong themes about how government, big business, and rampant power can corrupt do rear their heads in the storyline.
“Unabashed greed is rarely a good thing,” says Thym, “though I do think capitalism tempered by a strong ethical system is, overall, a positive force for society. Progress rarely comes about if people don't have some motivating force to drive them along - however, if left entirely to their own devices, we would see anarchy.”
The entire series is set, and shot, in Hong Kong, which is a rare sight for American and European audiences who are used to seeing Caucasians in western cities or futuristic wastelands for most of their fantasy and sci-fi films and series. Hong Kong is usually associated with action movies – Thym has managed to challenge those standards by creating a fantastical Hong Kong without any of the martial arts stereotypes that have developed since the 1960s.
Hong Kong as a backdrop makes Lumina gorgeous and appealing – and different for audiences. “The streets of Hong Kong are so richly textured - it's a high contrast mix of super shiny modern glass and chrome buildings right next to shanty like structures covered in peeling layers of worn paint. I spent weeks before the shoot just wandering around Hong Kong and looking for reflections and pretty unnoticed corners of the city,” recounts Thym.
The experience of shooting a film in Hong Kong as opposed to London or New York was an advantage to Thym and her crew.
“One great advantage of filming in Hong Kong is that you don't need a film permit to do so, provided you stay in public areas, you don't block traffic, you don't cause a nuisance, you aren't running around with fake guns and pyrotechnics - pretty common sense stuff... We shot 12-18 hours per day for 12 days, and we didn't have a chance to get pickup shots or to rest even...The streets, although they are beautiful, are quite noisy so we had a lot of background noise to deal with when editing. Fortunately we had access to a dialogue editor who was fantastic at cleaning out the unwanted noises!"
The independent filmmaking scene in Hong Kong is a mystery to filmmakers in other parts of the world. We don’t hear much about it, except for low budget action films. Dramas, love stories, and fantasy like Lumina seem fairly rare. And the fact that Lumina is directed by a female Hong Kong filmmaker seems even rarer.
“I don't think there are a large number of female directors anywhere in the world and Hong Kong is no exception,” says Thym. “The independent film scene in Hong Kong is in a constant state of flux - one, Hong Kong is a transitory town - there are a lot of people who come here for only a few years and then go back to their home countries. Two, a lot of bigger productions have moved to mainland China.
Things are changing though - a lot of us indie filmmakers, actors and musicians are self-organizing and cross promoting through networking sites like AlivenotDead (www.alivenotdead.com) in order to get that critical mass needed to fuel a strong independent scene.
Lumina has only 9 episodes, to start, in which this vast and engaging world has been created. The future of the series will depend largely on audience response. Thym wants audiences to not only love her work, but to see that there can be appealing production values and intense storylines in a web series.
“I want the viewers to want more Lumina after watching the ninth and final webisode! It also would be great if people could see that web series don't have to look ugly, and that drama and thrillers can have a future on the web. Right now most web series are comedies as they have traditionally been cheaper to produce, as well as easier to watch in bite size segments.”
Thym has noticed that the greatest fans of Lumina so far have been other filmmakers who appreciate the lush cinematography and art direction, as well as a young female audience and older male audience. “Often the younger female audience also like Korean and Taiwanese TV dramas, HK films or vampire stories,” she adds.
Jennifer Thym is a Hong Kong filmmaker with a genre-bending web series she defines as ‘magical realism’. 
